His Name Was My Name Too
by raggeddoctor
Summary: When the Eleventh Doctor finds himself investigating 3 mysterious killings at a mall in Southern California, he meets a blonde by the name of Melanie. Taking her on as his new companion, he is understandably shocked when he finds that she's one of the most ignorant and oblivious people he's ever met, and that's saying something. Will she be more trouble than she's worth? Probably.


**The Mall, the Blonde, and the Mulks  
****Chapter One****  
**

The Klayton Mall was always a lively, money spending place to be. Hoards of people were always scouting around the place looking for good deals, and good shops. The mall itself gleamed with apparent cleanliness, meticulous cleaning happened often. Many of the favorite stores were on the second floor of the building. Forever 21, MAC, Nine West, and a number of fabulous salons. This floor was always a crowded one.

With the exception of today.

There had been an accident on the top floor between an Old Navy and a children's Hello Kitty store. No one knew that anything had happened until they saw the bodies. 3 girls had dropped dead. It took the LAPD 3 minutes to get to the mall (impressive time for Los Angeles, even if the Police Department was only ten miles away from the mall). Two police officers constructed a caution tape fence whilst the others herded the shoppers to the bottom floor, leaving the second off limits. And while the police didn't technically shut down the building, it was almost impossible to leave with the number of police cars, news reporters, as well as ambulances and fire trucks that now surrounded the shopping mall. They had all crowded around every possible entrance to the mall. Leaving was improbable and impractical. Almost as much so as _entering_ the mall if you weren't with a response team. But that didn't stop him. No, it never stopped him.

Something was amiss, this was blatantly obvious. He could feel it in his ancient bones, in every atom in his being, and in every blood vessel being pumped from his hearts, this was no human altercation. This was backed by the fact that he had also received a message on the psychic paper (Which read _HELP US_. Very vague, and impossible to ignore.) When he followed the signal with the TARDIS, he found, curiously, that it had originated from a shopping mall in southern California.

The TARDIS materialized directly in front of an out of order gent's restroom but he wasn't aware because it had blocked the entrance completely. It was like the restroom was never there. The Doctor strolled casually from the TARDIS, surveying the area whilst remaining cool and forever conspicuous. As he rounded the corner, The Doctor found that he was on the second floor, but it was deserted. The windows showed that it was midday, and American flag flowing in the breeze just outside, hoisted into the air by a very tall flag pole. Far down the walk, maybe 25 yards, he saw yellow caution tape. His body listed to the left and his neck craned to get a better look, a stance that seemed completely unnecessary, and filled quirky doctor-ness. To his dismay, he saw a crowd of people all gathered around something that he could not make out, save the tip of a girls foot. Someone walked up to the group with what looked like body bags, and his stomach dropped slightly. This was more serious that he thought.

"Hey!" Someone shouted from behind. The Doctor spun around on his left heel, one hand shooting into the air while the other remained in front of his abdomen, to meet the gaze of a chubby police officer with a receding hairline and an oh-so-typical mustache. _Oh no,_ _the **fuzz**_**.**.. He thought to himself in a giddy tone. He was getting used to this Californian lingo.

"What do you think you're doing up here? This floor is off limits to the public." The officer put his hands on his hips. He assumed the man had come from the bathroom and had no idea of the closing of the floor, so he didn't consider him a threat. Even the man was, he was a seasoned officer who could make a grab for his taser in less than a second.

"Oh, right, well-" The Doctor rummaged through his pockets to find the psychic paper, only to remember that he had left it on the TARDIS console. He froze, hands in his pockets and eyes on the floor. In a split second, he clapped his hands together, smiled with his mouth open, and looked back at the man.

"Oh you know, just ah... Just doing a routine light bulb check!" He pointed to the lights above them his mouth opening into a bigger smile, "You know, wouldn't want one of these bad boys to explode or something." He brought his hands back together, leaning forward slightly. The officer looked him up and down, taking in his attire with one eyebrow elevated. Everything about him was strange, but the _bow tie_? That was something he hadn't seen worn casually by many people. He could tell by his accent that he was from the UK, although he wasn't very knowledgeable in accents, so he couldn't discern exactly where from, but it still helped in explaining his odd get up.

"Uh-huh.. Well, you'll have to inspect light bulbs on the bottom floor. There's been an accident. Three girls just dropped dead right in the middle of the floor, so we're restricting access."The officer rubbed his forehead with his left hand, his right remaining on his hip. The Doctor slowly looked back to the body bags, the final one being zipped, and he noted a small amount of blood coming from the head of one of the girls.

"And you don't know how it happened." This was a statement more than a question, but the officer took it as such. The Doctor placed his hands in his pockets and looked the the man as he began to speak, his head inclined downwards.

"No, not yet. But once we take the poor girls to the morgue we should be able to figure it out. We're not sure if it was a murder or not, yeh see. There was blood coming out of their _ears_." The man shuttered. The Doctor smiled internally at the fact that the man had called them girls rather than bodies.

"I'm sure there's something I could do," The Doctor began before he was cut off.

"Oh, sure there is. Going downstairs. This is not a place for you, light bulb man." He seemed obstinate in enough, but not at all rude.

"Of course! Sure, yeah. Yeah. I'll be going then! Plenty more light bulbs to inspect I'm afraid." The Doctor smiled and turned towards the escalator that he had earlier seen from his peripherals. He needed to investigate, and that meant not drawing attention to himself, so he didn't mind leaving. He may even come back later more secretively, he thought to himself. He was halfway to the escalator when he swiftly turned back towards the officer once more.

"What was your name, again?" The Doctor asked. The Officer had not moved an inch.

"West. Officer Jim West," he replied.

"Right, Jim. Jim the Officer. Ye- NO. Officer Jim, yes. Much better, obviously," he had begun to mumble a bit near the end before he spoke up again," I'll call you if I happen get into any trouble, Officer Jim."

"Why would you get into trouble?" He asked as though he were talking to a child.

"...What?"

"What?"

The Doctor froze before swiftly turning on his heel once more. "Goodbye for now, Officer Jim!" He half ran to the escalator and let it carry him down to the second floor which was filled with people of all kinds. Fat, thin, blonde haired, pink haired, you name it, that person was there. Maneuvering through the crowd was difficult enough without people looking at you. American's were so much more curious than he had last remembered. Or maybe he just looked more unfashionable. Either way, he was b-lining it for the nearest store. The Doctor was intent on investigating anywhere that anything could be hiding. The nearest store happened to be one specializing in shoes called, 'Heels for Deals'. He walked away from the crowd gladly, strolling into the store, his eyes sweeping every shelf.

It's only shoppers were two elderly women, a middle aged man, and a girl who had her back to him, eyeing what seemed to be a pair of sparkling wedges, and was wearing a massively oversized pink beanie. He walked to the check out counter and leaned against it so as to speak with the cashier. She was a lovely looking girl who was chomping on a wad of gum, her arms crossed and her expression annoyed. Her brown hair was pulled into a side pony tail.

"You wouldn't happen to have seen anything... odd in here, would you?" He asked, looking around a bit once more.

"Not until you walked in," she replied in a monotone voice after blowing a bubble so large it popped, leaving itself half way up the bridge of her nose. His brows furrowed slightly, and his mouth fell to a small frown.

"Right, well, be on the look out, eh?" She popped another bubble, still remaining in the same stance. He was waiting for a response when The Doctor felt a tap on his shoulder.  
"Excuse me?" A sweet sounding voice asked.

-x-x-x-

Melanie was so, totally, _not_ okay. It had been almost three whole weeks since she had her hair dyed her favorite shade of blonde which of course was NOT her natural hair color. So, what do you think was growing on her head? _Major. Roots_. All she wanted to do was come the mall, go to the salon, and leave without needing to wear her beanie. Walk among the rest of society without them knowing that her natural shade was the two centimeter long section of mousy brown hair that she was donning atop her head.

But no. No, of course it wasn't that simple. As she was about to walk into the Beauty Salon, she and the crowd around her heard the piercing screams of a small group of girls. People gasped in response, turning their heads in mere seconds to see that it had been three girls around Melanie's age. The salon had closed immediately, and the cops came within minutes. The crowd was almost impossible to get through, even when they told everyone on the second floor to go down to the first or vacate the mall.

Melanie had never liked being crammed into large crowds. So whilst the immense numbers headed towards to food courts, waddled and huddled around the entrances to the small cafes, Melanie hurried to the emptiest store with the most substance and shiny things. She looked around at the numerous store signs trying to find just the place. The moment she spotted Heels for Deals, she shoved her way through the crowd as fast as she could. From what she could tell the store was almost empty. People stopped going there very often once they got the Steve Madden store just across the way. Melanie herself had not been here in a little over a year. Even now as there was hardly room for anyone in the main hall area, the store only held two old ladies, a man, and the same rude cashier that worked there the last time Melanie had visited.

One thing that_ had_ changed drastically since her last visit to Heels for Deals was a pair of perfect, amazing, and totally eye grabbing sparkly wedges. The moment she saw them she simply had to get a closer look at their perfection. They were _definitely_ a must have. She dashed over to them like a moth to the light, scanning the shelves below them looking for a size 7 1/2. (She barely fit, but there was no way she would move up to an 8)

The door opened behind her as her eyes were glued to the many boxes searching for her almost size. Very shortly after, she heard a pleasant English accent ringing through the store. Her heart stopped and her mind raced._ Oh my God. OH. MY. GOD. THE STARS HAVE ALIGNED. OH MY GOD THIS IS SO ONE OF THOSE HOT BRITISH BOYS FROM ONE DIRECTION **OH. MY. G**_**OD**. Melanie tried to collect herself, wanting to appear as calm as possible for when she met her future husband for the very first time. She took a deep breathe in and slowly exhaled before she felt ready to lock eyes with her soul mate. In a moment she remembered the stupid beanie. Of course, the day she was to meet her true love would be the day that her roots were absolutely disgusting. Although the beanie hid them, she knew it was obvious enough. She sighed as she adjusted it, attempting to calm herself further.

She gathered all of her courage and turned around fully in a split second. Her heart fell in utter disappointment as she found instantly that it wasn't a member of One Direction at all, but a man dressed in garb worse than something her Grandfather would wear. He looked raggedy at best, and a bit frazzled. She could tell from his hair that he was no where near elderly, so why he would even be caught dead in public dressed like a hipster in an old folk's home was far beyond her.

And then she saw it.

The worst thing that he could have possibly been wearing. In the reflection of the mirror on the check out counter, a maroon bow tie was staring her in the face, begging to be ripped from his neck and set on fire. It took everything in her not make an audible barfing noise. She barged up to the man, left hand digging in her purse for her fashion citation sheets. Once she reached him, she tapped him on the shoulder with her right hand, followed by a very forced and polite, "Excuse me?"

The man turned around in an instant, and Melanie smiled at him, false syrupy sweetness coating her expression.

"Oh, hello!" He said, smiling as well.

"Yeah, Hi." She said, the smile falling slightly as the 'hi' was dragged out for a few seconds. "Are you aware that you are wearing_ a maroon bow tie_ in the middle of a mall?" She asked, the smile now completely disappearing. The man's smile fell a bit as well, he seemed a bit disappointed. But he recovered fairly quickly

"Hey, bow ties are cool." He replied, smirking as he adjusted his bow tie with both hands, his eyes looking down to meet her's. He was at least half a foot taller than her. Melanie opened her mouth slightly, the left side of her upper lip raising higher than the other. Her Left eyebrow rose as well, the right plummeting towards her eye; the face of a sass master.

"Well I d-" Melanie was about to whip out the citation when she was cut off by a bloodcurdling scream coming from the direction of Aeropostale. The man in the hideous bow tie looked up immediately, his brows closing in tightly, concern crossing his face in a matter of seconds. He dashed for the exit of the store, running at a breakneck speed, his arms moving awkwardly and his hair flapping.

"WHERE ARE YOU GOING?" She screamed after him.

He turned to look at her, running sideways, "SCREAMING, DANGER, GOTTA RUN, NO TIME TO CHAT ABOUT BOW TIES, I'M AFRIAD."

"BUT YOU'RE GOING THE WRONG WAY!" She yelled, trying to catch up to the strange man. He didn't stop running as he replied, bumping past people.

"Rubbish! I heard it coming from two stores down!" Quickly, he ran into the store he was referring to. Melanie followed immediately and almost ran into the back of him all covered in tweed. They were standing in the entrance of the See's Candies shop, every shopper frozen with confusion, all eyes staring at the man and the blonde.

"I told you so," She shot a whisper in his ear from behind, "the scream came from three stores to the left of Heels for Deals. _Aeropostale_?" She crossed her arms and looked at the back of his head, waiting for a reply. He took only seconds to process what she had said before be turned on his heel and broke out in a sprint to the left. The crowd was becoming much more dense as they neared Aeropostale, making running nearly impossible.

"Out of the way! Out of they way! Let me through, I'm important!" He shouted, Melanie chuckled at his exclamation, assuming it wouldn't work. But she saw how wrong she was when the crowd was starting to part for them slightly. He turned to her, giving a thumbs up and a beaming smile. He seemed as surprised as she was that it had worked. They were inside the store in no time. They saw a small group of whimpering women surrounding what seemed to be a girl on the floor.

"Give her some air!" The man yelled as he parted two of the women, kneeling on the ground to get a closer look at the fallen girl.

-x-x-x-

_No, no, no, no_. He thought to himself frantically as he lifted the girl's head slightly. To his immense relief, he could feel her pulse in the hand with which he was holding her neck. The Doctor let out a deep sigh. He set her down gently and stood up.

"It's alright, she's fine. Just knocked out." He looked closely at the floor around her, looking for any clue to what it could have been. Surveying the area with an unyielding scrutiny, like a bloodhound with a possible scent. The crowd looked at him as well, searching for an explanation from the man who seemed to be in charge. He often had given off those vibes.

The gleaming ivory toned tiles covering the floor of the store emitted their own sheen. The untrained eye would have noticed nothing more than this slightly reflected nature. No, no, no, of course they would not notice the translucent, almost completely invisible trail of mucus, a mere foot from the girl's unconscious body. But the Doctor of course had eyes that had been highly trained by time and experience- and lots of it. So, of course he would notice an extremely crucial, albeit a bit peculiar clue such as this. He crouched down to the floor, examining the substance from a side view, the left side of his face lying completely flat against the floor. His brows heavily furrowed, he reached into his inside pocket and retrieved his sonic screwdriver. Using it to analyze the substance, as he so often did, the noise brought anyone who's attention was otherwise compromised by something else, to him.

"What's that?" A man asked, sounding a bit alarmed, but mostly curious.

He flung the screwdriver up, and pulled it towards himself, reading the results. He froze, suddenly. His hearts almost stopped.

"_Mulks_." he whispered to himself, still in a state of disbelief. This wasn't good. This wasn't good at all.

"What?" The man asked again. The Doctor looked towards him abruptly, the man's head reflecting the florescent light almost as much as the tiles and the mucus trail.

"What? _What'swhat_? _What_?" He was reluctant to reveal his findings to anyone, not wanting to cause a panic, although he doubted anyone knew that they were dealing with here.

"That _tool_ thing." He said, gesturing towards the Doctor's sonic.

"Oh this? It's nothing, just a sonic screwdriver, my sonic." He smiled, "Very useful." The smiled was forced, for he knew that with the wrong move from a large enough group of people, and everyone in the mall could be dead in seconds. He needed help, there was no way he could do this alone. He needed someone reliable. Someone brave, and someone levelheaded. Someone who would be able to handle the gravity of the situation.

Someone like...

"_OFFICER JJJJJIIIIIIIMMMMMM_!"

**-TO BE CONTINUED-**


End file.
